Marked for Roberto Herrera
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Sep 2027
The cup run ends for Zulia
2‑3 against Deportivo Tachira, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market6 Sep 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Kaizer Chiefs moved on, Gabriel Gonzalez reports back to Zulia, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad6 Sep 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market6 Sep 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zulia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A season average of 7.26 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Junior Castillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Chris Martínez
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Chris Martínez has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zulia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 7. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniel Rosales
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zulia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Aug 2027
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Roberto Herrera decided nobody was going anywhere. Metropolitanos had no time left to answer.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match14 Aug 2027
Zulia make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zulia have 5 straight wins of it.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 20, Chris Martínez is already the best thing here
An average of 7.11 in a first team he is several years too young for. Zulia have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Gabriel Gonzalez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Aug 2027
Three points for Zulia, 3‑2 the final word against Metropolitanos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Aug 2027
Zulia win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 96th minute. Trujillanos will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.08, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Chris Martínez, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roberto Herrera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zulia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match7 Aug 2027
Zulia make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zulia have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Gabriel Gonzalez
17 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roberto Soteldo and Zulia agree another 5 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Junior Castillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match7 Aug 2027
Three points for Zulia, 2‑1 the final word against Trujillanos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
In brief
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Match
Another one collected away from home
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Squad
No hiding place for Luis Osorio
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Victor Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Jul 2027
5‑2, and Gabriel Gonzalez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zulia tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad26 Jul 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
No sign of nerves from Chris Martínez at 20 — 8.25
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chris Martínez did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market26 Jul 2027
Trujillanos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zulia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad26 Jul 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A hand in 2 of them from Cristian Osorio — 7.95
Marked 7.95. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Junior Castillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Jul 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Zulia and Llaneros, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
No sign of nerves from Victor Ramirez at 20 — 8.02
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Victor Ramirez did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad19 Jul 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Jul 2027
A 3‑1 win over Atletico Venezuela, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Gabriel Gonzalez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for David Castillo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Rafael Castillo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market19 Jul 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Portuguesa will make the call about Roberto Herrera this week. Zulia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Zulia
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zulia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Gabriel Gonzalez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zulia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastián Sanabria and Zulia agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Andrés Jara in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jun 2027
Zulia say no — this time
The offer from Portuguesa for Roberto Herrera was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Jun 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Luis Osorio dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market21 Jun 2027
The fee is $260.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Estudiantes de Merida drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zulia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
$260.0K for Eliás Ajam, and Zulia supporters approve
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Eliás Ajam from Estudiantes de Merida for $260.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Jun 2027
Nobody wins at Zulia
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Junior Castillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Zulia spend $110.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $110.0K for Salvador Bolívar, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Match12 Jun 2027
Zulia get the job done against Aragua
A 2‑1 win over Aragua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A mark of 7.92, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market14 Jun 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Zulia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Gabriel Gonzalez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zulia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zulia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Luis Soteldo gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Jun 2027
Zulia through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Caracas, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Victor Ramirez, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zulia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luis Soteldo is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Roberto Herrera has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match5 Jun 2027
Deportivo Lara left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Mar 2027
Chastening afternoon for Zulia
A 4‑7 beating by Estudiantes de Caracas was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad29 Mar 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Chris Martínez at 20 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chris Martínez did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match27 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Zulia
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Luis Soteldo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
A performance of 9.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Zulia
Junior Castillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Victor Soteldo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Zulia
0‑3 against Estudiantes de Merida, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Zulia
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zulia are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zulia
Junior Castillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Metropolitanos left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match15 Aug 2026
Zulia are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 53 days on the sidelines for Roberto Castillo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
Zulia say no — this time
The offer from Celta for Roberto Soteldo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A debut Victor Ramirez will not forget — 7.75
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.75 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zulia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Chacón is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zulia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Jhon Chacón arrives at Zulia with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.